P is for Peter's Plunder - Highlights 1

As I mentioned the other day, I don't tend to post-credit when geldt has crossed palms, but first, I know who gave me the contents of the bag, and second, I know they were cheapies, so we'll look at the highlights!

 

A couple of robo-dino-bots, similar to the pair of gift shop dragons carried by several branding's a few years (couple of decades?) ago, but still around, with the same black undercoat, heavy silver over-brushing and red eyes!

There's a post on these coming soon'ish I think, touristy horses, I spent years waiting for riders to appear, but it seems there weren't any, despite the Western/American saddlery?

 

Three American natives from Jean, the prone one is one of the slightly harder to find poses, but they are as common as Airfix readymades, on the continent, so it's all a bit relative!

 

Very strange manga/anime things with slightly animalistic faces, pre-pubescent teen bodies, angels wings, and a look of mischief about them! Possibly Wild Vibes Zombaes Forever dolls (some Netflix thing), but not the 8cm articulated action figures Google reveals, rather 54/60mm PVC solids - an earlier/capsule-toy line?

 

A bit infant'y, and probably going-on to charity, but they are fun if you like all this 'deforms' stuff, and marked-up to K&M/Wild Republic, so - box ticked! And the horses are less cartoony and could prove useful for spare mounts?

 

Kinder's Disney Fairies, I tried to get them to perform for the camera, but the petals kept falling out, or the fairies fell over, so, well, you get the idea, a similar set of 'Flower Fairies' has been issued recently as well!
 

Space! The lenticular goldfish-bowl-face is a new [to the collection] colour, the orange guy is Safari, I think the green one might be Ben Ten (and was another one who didn't want to stand up!), while the silver guy is an MPC copy, and the other two are mini-action figures from Hasbro, one a Star Wars 'Clone War' figure, the other possibly a GI Joe or something?

 

Loving the quirkiness of these, semi-flat, polyethylene, 'monochromatic' dinosaurs, what's not to like? The bases have channels in them which suggest they may attach to something else, but similar channels have been seen in other figures over the years (game playing pieces, IHC firefighters), so there may be a technical reason behind it.

 

More Kinder, and another fail to get a better display shot, but they are from several Barbie series I think, and as spares/to-be-sorted are a useful addition to my smaller sample. Oddly, several of them have pink knickers! But it's probably not that odd to a child and I'm just channelling the inherited residues of Edwardian uptightedness in the matter?

 

More Kinder (or Phidal in the case of the little blonde) capsule-type stuff.

More space! Seven of the LB (for Lik Be, of course!) astronauts, in their soft polyethylene iteration, probably the best surviving of the small scale versions, and posed with the Combex pencil sharpener. I've since learned there is a carpet-wheel version of the novelty, marked only 'B - 5 2 0'.

S is for Studio Cards & Gifts

I think they are still going, but as more of an online model, with bespoke 'personalised' stuff, but it could be another company, 20-years have gone by! But Studio Cards & Gifts used to be a mail-order firm of the type which fished for customers with ad's for Home Farms, Noah sets, and the like (we've seen one of their Nativities here), in women's magazines in the 1980's. Reeling you in with payment terms like the book clubs on the back of Sunday Supplements.

 

This catalogue from 2004's Christmas season includes possibly the earliest example of the Supreme sets I have in the archive, although the stuff itself is older? And the Western town is still kicking around, although I think you can only find the smaller Pirate sets these days?

Not sure if I've noticed the snakes before (and I have posted images of the town), but they do turn-up quite often, so it's nice to know they are Supreme Wild West and not from some zoo/jungle animal set!

Very different 'little jolly boat' to the bright reddy-orange or turquoise ones you can still find in the tourist-attraction type carded rack-toy sets, one of which we have seen here, not that long ago. Interesting that the two crews are identified by red or blue clothing, even if only a bandana, so next time I get the figures out I should be able to photograph them as early (painted bases with skeleton 'enemy'), mid-production (red and blue 'crews'), and - as 'late' - any, shiny variations or simpler paint-jobs?

B is for Bowling

Mentioned this-morning in passing, or this-afternoon? I forget! I also forgot I had the Wilton ones in the queue! So here they are as a late box-ticker!

60mm, polystyrene, cakes, for the decoration of! Everything else is in the tags, and they might be the origin, or more likely an extension, of those novelty sets with a marble, from Christmas crackers?

D is for Dublo

Which was a play on Double-O, itself confusing as it's actually half-O, and that's O and OO, not 0 or 00, strictly being the gauge between the rails on the modelled track. And a title we may have had before?!

Very-much box-ticking Jon's samples of the Hornby lead figures, and they are lead, quite heavy and quite soft, we've seen them before here, and there are comparison shots from Jon coming in the final round-up.

 

These are the pre-war versions, if I recall correctly, available from only 1939, being lost to wartime privations, but as some of the only figures commercially available (Hamblings had carried some), and small enough to be produced in some numbers before rationing came-in, they were bought in quantity, and have survived in sufficient numbers to be findable.

 

The post-war figures were simplified both in paint style and moulding, with the points-guy/shunter getting an integrally-moulded pole, instead of the pre-war wire one, and all painting was simplified. The Locomotive driver became an 'engineer' in bluer overalls, compared to his pre-war navy suit, and their buttons all disappeared!

 

Older above and newer below, the post-war ladies were definitely more colourful, but somebody needs to have a word with Bertie Worcester on his sartorial choices in golfing attire, the Luftwaffe would have spotted that orange jump-suit from 10,000 feet!

 

Many thanks again to Jon, for sending these, I can't remember what I posted, way back when, but I know my pre-war sample is almost non-existent, although it has been added to, I think I have the grey lady with her red-fur (velvet?) trim, and the shunter now, with a loose wire!

C is for Cakeboards

Sometimes a contribution is perfectly timed to get a load of other stuff out of Picasa, and with this lot, that's exactly what happened, so before the highlights posts, here's some resin figures which were in Peter Evans's big bag the other day.

These Cakeboard figures, from Peter, are the modern equivalent of Gem for Culpitts (or Wilton in the 'States), between 54 and 60-mil, depending on the sculpt, and I would have said contemporary, but I can't find a website, so recently deceased is probably more accurate? They do/did a range of nicely-finished resin figurines of civilian, sports and hobbyist/pastime types, for thematic cakes, or targeted cake decorating.

 

I have got them in the Tags three-times already, so we've had one or two looks at them already, while these were added to the stash and shot back in the early-summer of last year, the lady bowler is missing her ball-hand - ohh-err missus!

 

While the chap in the middle is an older sculpt in polystyrene, who I might have thought was the aforementioned Wilton, but he's almost too good (they had a cruder hard-plastic one in the 1960's), so maybe a French make (he has that certain je ne sais quoi!), or just a British minor-make lost to the mists of time?

The Cakeboard bases are usually marked (C) CAKEBOARDS around the rim/edge of the often quite deep bases, but can be unmarked, particularly on the thinner bases. 'Handmade' means hand-poured (into a mould) and hand-finished, not all have the sticker. I've also shown the interloper's base, in case it triggers any memories which might help ID it.

 

I also shot these, back in 2016, when the cake decorations shop in Basingrad was closing-down, the proprietor did look for useful catalogues, but all she had were price lists, which she thought were no use, and while I tried to explain they might be, it was a losing battle against her thinking I didn't need them or me making an offer I couldn't afford for a stack of what would have been mostly useless paperwork about four-foot high!

But you can see some of the figures already seen above, some we've seen before here at Small Scale World, (the cyclist was between the footballers before I purchased her) and a few others, and clearly some came in different colour-ways over time, like the swimmers, or footballers. The snowboarder may not be Cakeboards?

News, Views Etc . . . Forthcoming Show Dates/Events

I'm not ready to go back to the weekly show-date format yet, haven't got the time, or the space, but here are a few flyers I picked-up at last weekend's show, with dates of forthcoming shows or events;

Two flyers for two different events, same place, the De Havilland Aircraft Museuem, those important details in text;

 

Website - https://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/

 

The De Havilland Aircraft Museum
Salisbury Hall
London Colney
St Albans
Hertfordshire
AL2 1BU

Tel/Answerphone - 01727 826400 

 

Matt Murphy of Hobby Bunker was at the London show, promoting the third iteration of the Chicago Toy Soldier Show, which he is now organising;

Website - https://chicagotoysoldiershow.com/

Faceplant - https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoToySoldierShow/

Phone - (781) 321 8855
Email - matt@hobbybunker.com

 

Matthew Murphy, Chairman

Hobby Bunker, Inc.

103 Albion St. Wakefield, 

MA 01880

USA

The BMSS show is also in the pipeline, now moved to reading, if I've got the day off, I may mosey over;

 

Website - https://www.bmssonline.com/annual-show.html

 

Reading Central Salvation Army Hall

Anstey Road

Reading

RG1 7JR

[Opposite the Hexagon theatre and Oracle shopping Centre.]

 

Best show in the world! Not long now!

London - Twickenham / Whitton - Plastic Warrior Magazine - Plastic Warrior Show

The Harlington Suite

The Winning Post Hotel

Chertsey Road

Whitton

Twickenham

London

TW2 6LS

UK

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PlasticWarrior?fref=ts 

Blog. - http://plasticwarrioreditor.blogspot.com/ 

eMail - pw.editor3@gmail.com (pw.editor@ntlworld.com) 

Tel. - 01483 830 743 

10:30hrs - Finish, no early-bird

And I picked this up for anyone who needs it;

One of the few UK retailers left!

H is for Hairy Horse

Just a quickie, found this, no idea who was responsible for the flocking, it used to be a member of the 'Old Guard' would tell you with some authority 'The' name, but we now know various people were flocking, or (Wend Al) moved into flocking, while it wouldn't surprise me if Prison Industries (Prindus) had a flocking unit?

Nevertheless, here it is with its unflocked, grazing progenitor, the Crescent (or whoever) flocked horse, probably as supplied to a single zoo or wildlife centre? It appears to be a two-stage process, with the pale-sand flock applied over the hazel, and the eyes dotted-in with ink? And thanks to all the donators to the Blog, at least one of these has probably come from Chris, Jon or Peter, if not both!

B is for Blue Shirts!

I found this cutting in the Blue Box folder, real not digital, so scanned it, then it could be in the digital folder too! Taken from issue 12 of Military Modelling magazine from 2000, I think that was when they were trying to get-out 16 issues a year, so these were probably launched in time for the Christmas market?

We've briefly looked at the knights/fantasy set, a few pirates, and was there Biker Mice from Mars, or am I thinking of something-else entirely! The figures in all sets (there was a Roman fort too) are rather juvenile in execution, but the accessories and scenics are very useful, from HO through to about 28mm.

 

Goes and looks them up, it was Teen Turtles, and possibly Playmates!

 

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2016/02/m-is-for-mini-play-sets.html

R is for Rocket Science!

Seen in Lidl this week, so still there if you need another bed-side, occasional, ambient or mood light! Sadly I have too many to my name already! And it's only eight-quid!

It's rocket science!